Molding is often used to provide a decorative appearance to a corner or junction where a wall interfaces with another structural or decorative member that creates a discontinuity. Such structural or decorative members include a ceiling, doorway, window, or floor. In such cases, the molding may advantageously hide otherwise undesirable features such as gaps or wiring that are formed by or placed along the discontinuity. Other moldings such as chair rails are attached to a continuous region in a wall surface rather than at an interfacing wall region.
Installation of molding is typically performed after installing various drywall trimming accessories, which constitute a different class of materials from molding and include elongate flat or curved strips that are usually made from a polymer material Drywall trimming accessories are installed between two or more walls, or between a wall and at least one structural or decorative member, in order to remove any appearance of discontinuity between the structural or decorative members. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a conventional drywall trimming strip 110, and FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the strip 110 installed along a corner defined by two drywall panels 140. The strip 110 has a central portion 120, which may be also called a “bullnose” portion because of its curvature, and two diverging flanges 130, which diverge from the central portion 120. Each of the flanges 130 includes a plurality of holes 136, which provide numerous contact points for a joint compound to adhere to the dry wall panels 140.
FIGS. 3 and 4 are perspective views of other conventional drywall trimming accessories. As with the trimming strip 110 depicted in FIGS. 1 and 2, the trimming accessories are installed to remove any appearance of discontinuity between structural or decorative members. FIG. 3 depicts a three-way drywall trimming corner 150 that has three legs 110, each leg having a “bullnose” central portion 112 and a tongue 114, which is adapted to fit under the “bullnose” central portion of a “bullnose” drywall trimming strip such as the strip 110 depicted in FIGS. 1 and 2. Each leg 110 has two flanges diverging at a right angle. Each of the flanges 120 of a given leg 110 and one of the flanges 120 of an adjacent leg are defined by a common, sheet-like portion 122 of the corner 150.
FIG. 4 depicts a two-way drywall trimming corner 200, which, has two legs 210, each having a “bullnose” central portion 212 with a tongue 214, which is adapted to fit under the “bullnose” central portion of a “bullnose” drywall trimming strip such as the strip 110 depicted in FIGS. 1 and 2, Each leg 212 has two flanges diverging at a right angle. One flange 220 of one leg and the other flange 220 of the other leg are defined by a common, sheet-like portion of the corner 222. The other flanges 230 of the respective legs meet at a right angle to form an L-shaped sheet 232.
As previously mentioned, installation of molding is typically performed after installing various drywall trimming accessories such as those depicted in FIGS. 1 to 4. This is because the task of drywall trimming installation is performed throughout a building to remove any appearance of discontinuity between most walls and other structural or decorative members, while molding is considered a decorative feature that is only installed over a few wall-to-wall, wall-to-window, and wall-to-floor interfaces, for example. As a result, molding is often installed over previously-installed drywall trimming accessories. Installation of drywall trimming accessories, followed by installation of molding that covers the drywall trimming accessories, is redundant and unnecessary, and frequently requires hiring separate specialized crews.
Accordingly, there is a need for an accessory that is efficiently installed and that overcomes the inherent redundancies of installing both drywall trimming accessories and decorative molding across an interface between two or more walls or other structural or decorative members. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the foregoing technical field and background.